Table 5

Bland-Altman Limits of Agreement (cm and VE) for examiner determination of SSS

95% LOA
N SubsetUnitsBiasLower limitUpper limit
Cervical spine
27All subjectscm0.0−3.13.1
VE0.0−1.71.7
21Both examiners confidentcm−0.2−3.12.7
VE−0.1−1.71.5
6≥1 examiners not confidentcm0.7−3.24.5
VE0.4−1.82.5
Thoracic spine
52All subjectscm−0.1−10.910.8
VE0.0−4.84.7
21Both examiners confidentcm0.6−4.86
VE0.3−2.12.6
31≥1 examiners not confidentcm−0.5−13.912.9
VE−0.2−6.15.6
Lumbar spine
34All subjectscm0.5−6.17.1
VE0.1−1.51.8
19Both examiners confidentcm0.3−5.96.5
VE0.1−1.51.6
15≥1 examiners not confidentcm0.8−6.47.9
VE0.2−1.62.0
Combined dataset
113All subjectcm0.1−8.28.4
VE0.1−3.03.1
61Both examiners confidentcm0.3−4.75.2
VE0.1−1.71.9
361 examiner confidentcm0.9−10.89.1
VE−0.3−4.03.3
16No examiners confidentcm1.90−10.914.7
VE−0.7−4.05.4

Abbreviations:

LOA limits of agreement,
SD standard deviations,
SE standard error,
VE vertebral equivalent